Room 35's Visit to the Travis Wetlands

Today we had a great learning experience when we visited the Wetlands. Some of the things we learned were:

If one creature from the food chain dies then the whole food chain can be affected.
The difference between omnivores, herbivores and carnivores.

Different species of birds take shelter at the Wetlands and different birds have different features.

 When the birds migrate to the Wetlands they are refueling like a plane landing in an airport.


Paradise ducks with white heads, are the females.
The backswimmers have two legs we can see while their other four legs are hidden  so they can swim faster.
Many of the birds have legs which bend backwards which helps them to not sink into the mud. 



The mites are the smallest water insects.
Different species of birds eat different things.
When the food chain is disrupted, there would be so much plankton below the surface of the water that the plankton on the bottom would rot because they wouldn't get the sunlight. 
All food chains start with plants.

Plants produce their own energy in a process called PHOTOSYNTHESIS.
When the damselflies are young ( at the nymph stage) they live in the water.
The Godwits fly to Alaska and back in Summer  - 10,000 kilometres. 
Some insects have hooks on their legs so they can hook onto plants in the water.
The Wetlands provides a good, safe nesting ground.
There are heaps and heaps of different species that live in the water.
The small, clustered leaves at the bottom of the pokaka tree, protected the tree from moa and at the top the leaves are more spread out. 
In the 1800's, 95% of Christchurch was a Wetland but now only 3-5% make up Wetland areas in Christchurch.
About different creatures such as scaup, spoonbill, shoveller, backswimmer, pied stilt, leech
There is a type of mite which lives in the water.
The kahikatea can live for 1000 years. 

The Wetland acts like a sieve as well as a sponge - if you're not sure why, just ask all of us and we will tell you all about it.

We learnt so much today!  Happy times and wonderful learning happening!